The District of Columbia is in a state of emergency. It is
time to sound the alarms, send for help, call in the troops. In
each city, Americans pay federal, state, and local taxes for the
support of basic services. In the District of Columbia, the local
citizens pay taxes and cannot obtain the basic functions that
are mandated by the payment of their taxes. If this was a store-bought
product, we would all be asking for a refund.

Perhaps the worst aspect of the District is its miserable school
system. Most recently, the principal of a D.C. charter school
along with some staff and students attacked a newspaper reporter
in their school who refused to hand over notes she was taking
for a story on charter schools. The reporter was forcibly removed
from the school. Ironically, one of the school's primary purposes
is to teach character education. The school, although privately
operated, is publicly funded and supervised. In another incident,
a radio reporter doing a story on violence in
schools was attacked by students as he attempted to leave.

Besides the violence, there are management problems. District
schools have a continuing problem with getting the schools open
on time, sometimes because of mismanaged funds and sometimes safety
hazards. The school board and the previous Superintendent constantly
argued in
Washington Post stories over who was responsible for the mismanagement.
As is the norm in D.C. politics, no one's willing to be accountable.
The University of the District of Columbia (UDC) gets a new President
like Hollywood stars get spouses. It has reached a point with
UDC that
individuals familiar with the school have called it the University
of Dumb Children. The District is notorious for spending more
money per pupil with the least results than any other area with
a similar population.

The District of Columbia's carrying out of its responsibilities
to provide reliable services is at an all-time low. In most areas
of the city, with the obvious exception of wealthy Georgetown,
pothole free roads and trash removal are luxuries not to be taken
for granted.

The District of Columbia must make immediate changes to remedy
the current problems that it faces. The U.S. Congress made the
initial steps to remedy the problem by appointing a financial
board to straighten out the management and financial problems
of the city.

Next, the City Council, the School Board, and the Mayor should
be removed. Their positions should be made volunteer positions,
and more honorary than functionary. Plowing streets and cutting
ribbons should keep them busy.

As individuals are jumping to the suburbs for a safer and better
education system and life, it is important that the citizens and
Congress change the current structure for managing the city's
affairs. In reality, this isn't even a city anymore. It's a circus
led by a ringmaster named Marion.

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Note: New Visions Commentaries reflect the views of their author,
not necessarily those of Project 21.